If there’s something that we can’t say enough is how much we need God in our lives. We wouldn’t even have a life without him. We wouldn’t have a future if it wasn’t for his Grace and Mercy.
Let’s rest in his bosom, just like a newborn child; in total abandonment and filled with peace. Only in the presence of the Lord we can find happiness .
Be blessed.
I was having a conversation with a friend regarding leadership. My friend’s point of view was that because he was in a particular position, he would consult those “under” him, but that the last word would always be his. After all, that’s what his position entitled him to do.
The conversation was funny to me because humbling yourself through leadership is more than taking others into consideration. It’s about service. Being a leader it is about asking those who you are responsible for, as much as you are willing to do.
Leadership is not a title, accolades or a position. The truth is that the higher the position, the higher the responsibility.
Actually the Word of God tells us in
Matthew 23:11 “The greatest among you must be a servant.”
Leadership is not about being served but about serving others. The truth is that we have all been called for leadership. I know that doesn’t sound true to everyone, but it is true. As a believer, wherever you go you are to be salt of the earth. If you are light and salt, it means that others are looking or asking what you do to guide themselves to Christ. So know that even if you do not hold a particular position at work, church or your community, you are still called to be a leader.
So how do you know how to be the right kind of leader? The bible gives us a simple guide:
“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.” Philippians 2:5-8 MSG
A lot to think about. Until next time, be blessed
Tag for The Road Home
“This book certainly held my interest straight through to the very emotional ending. ”Mary Anne Benedetto
“With the ever-constant presence of her closest friend, Aimee, Desiree slowly makes her way to God and learns the greatness of His power and love. ”Cynthia
“A very engaging story about faith, love, and friendship, and the trials and tribulations that life can bring you. ”Jersey Gina
I’m sure at some point or another we’ve heard this scripture:
1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
The common saying for this scripture is that “God will never give us something we can’t handle.” I know that my friends and I joke around saying that God has quite an opinion of us, especially when we find ourselves in difficult moments.
That’s part of the issue when we go by popular word instead of the Word of God. It’s not that God’s expectation on us is quite high. Read that very last verse where it says “ he’ll always be there to help you come through it” That’s the key. God knows that we will be able to over come because he’s not trusting us to do it, he’s just wants us to have the faith and let HIM do it.
When we think God has called us to do it, (whatever it is) we get overwhelmed. We don’t know the answers to the questions. If we actually read what the scripture wanted us to do our lives would be much easier. He wants to do a work in us and through us. All we have to do is have the faith to allow him to do HIS job.
Until then, be blessed.
“This book certainly held my interest straight through to the very emotional ending. ”Mary Anne Benedetto
“With the ever-constant presence of her closest friend, Aimee, Desiree slowly makes her way to God and learns the greatness of His power and love. ”Cynthia
“A very engaging story about faith, love, and friendship, and the trials and tribulations that life can bring you. ”Jersey Gina
On my post on Wednesday titled Back to the Future, I talked about living in the land of what if. But the Land of What if is more than holding on to the past or to negativity.
We all have had a crisis of faith, when we don’t know what to believe. Why does God allow certain things to happen? What if God is not listening to me? What if my sin is unforgivable? What if it’s not God telling me to do this? What if God is not even there?
Even Jesus had a moment where he felt that God was not there.
Matthew 27:45-46 From noon to three, the whole earth was dark. Around midafternoon Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
And there was also a time when Jesus wanted to see if there was another way around God’s plan.
Matthew26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done
But see that at the end he still obeyed and allowed God’s will to be done. Although I’m sure it was not easy for him to die on that cross being that he was innocent, he not only got through it but achieved Victory!
Join me in worshipping the Lord and may he help you with any struggles of your heart.
Until then, be blessed
In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates
I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham
Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames
Do you remember the series of Movies “Back to the future” with Michael J. Fox? Maybe I’m revealing my age here. LOL! For those who have not seen this movie, it was the story of a crazy scientist and a teenager. They had created a time machine. Marty (the name of Michael J. Fox’s character) is the teenager. He’s living an unhappy life at home. He goes back in time to his parent’s senior year of high school, witnesses the time where they met and understands the reason why things came out to be the way they were in the present.
He interferes with the past, but when he comes back to the future 
realizes that his interference has affected the outcome to the point where he now doesn’t even exist. He now has to go back to the past to fix what he has done, but still had to interfere because he wasn’t able to go back to the exact same moment in the past.
There are many times when we wish we had a time machine. We live in the land of if’s. If I had not done this, I had not said that, I had not met this person, the list can be endless. I admit sometimes I can actually pinpoint the exact moment when my decisions led me through the wrong path and I wish I could take them back.
But recently I have changed that perspective. I’ve learned that even the worst events in my life and the worst decisions I have made has taught me lessons that has made my life better. How is that possible? Well , that’s just a fulfillment of a promise from God.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Are you not wiser, more mature for those life challenges that we’ve had? Let’s stop living in the past and the Land of If’s. Let’s use the present with is all we have.
When you feel like the burden of this day is taking a toll on you, stand on these scriptures:
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
“This book is in a class by itself, you will not be able to put it down! The characters pull you in and you begin to feel their emotions. Excellently written. The title fooled me, the saying goes” never judge a book by the cover “and this is one of those books.” By Duezette
As part of returning to blog, we are also back with our Worship Fridays. Like I said at the beginning of this week, sometimes life gets in our way. We can find ourselves in a place where we feel limited to what we are able to do. Let’s not forget that those can be distractions from our purpose. As humans we can allow ourselves to stumble but let’s not allow ourselves to fall .
Let’s live by the words we read in Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
“This book is in a class by itself, you will not be able to put it down! The characters pull you in and you begin to feel their emotions. Excellently written. The title fooled me, the saying goes” never judge a book by the cover “and this is one of those books.” By Duezette
As you have probably noticed, although some of the great authors from Grace and Faith Connection have done appearances at The Rising Muse, you have not heard much from me. I wish I could tell you that I was finishing my next book for your reading. Yes, I did some of that and the book is not yet ready. That has not been the reason for my absence. Life just got complicated. You can blame my 9-5, you can blame some health issues, but the reality is that at some point I had to be back.
I was born to write, and in these weeks when I was away, rather than resting I was wilting. It is this space that allows me to connect with you, to tell you how God is working in my life. More than my books, this is the place when I can share with you the message of hope. So I saw very fitting to resuscitate this blog on the most important day of our faith, Resurrection Day!
With that I know that life still happens and it’s always complicated, but one thing I’ve learned in my walk with Jesus is that you don’t need a lot of time, you just have to be intentional.
May the Lord Bless you this day and always. May his blessings be upon you. May the light and hope of his resurrection reaches your heart today.
HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!
THE ROAD HOME $1.99 Only through Easter!
A powerful story of redemption…
![clip_image002[1]](https://therisingmuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/clip_image00211.png?w=168&h=244 "clip_image002[1]")
“This book certainly held my interest straight through to the very emotional ending. ”Mary Anne Benedetto
“With the ever-constant presence of her closest friend, Aimee, Desiree slowly makes her way to God and learns the greatness of His power and love. ”Cynthia
“A very engaging story about faith, love, and friendship, and the trials and tribulations that life can bring you. ”Jersey Gina
Note: FREE! The book, Confessions of a Pentecostal, first published by the Assemblies of God’s Gospel Publishing House in 1978, became available for Kindle in 2011 after being out of print for years and many used copies sold online. The Kindle version is free of charge March 9-12 at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088OP460
GROWING UP PENTECOSTAL
By Ada Brownell
Few people have the wonderful heritage I did.
No, I didn’t grow up among rich lords and ladies or with an impressive blood line. Spiritual wealth became the gold mine available to me.
I had pastors who believed the Word; lived it; preached it.
As a spectator in my growing up years, I witnessed people kneeling in repentance and being changed by the power of God.
One of the most spectacular conversions was an aunt. Beautiful, personable, talented, she turned away from God in her teens. In her 30s she woke up, spiritually bankrupt, her marriage in trouble, and thinking of ending her life.
One night, Mom persuaded her to come to church. My aunt cried out, “I’m lost!” interrupting the pastor’s sermon. She rushed forward to the altar. With wide eyes, I heard her repent with screams and guttural groans. Then the joy hit. She praised God all over the church. From that day until she died at age 91, she was still dancing with joy and living for God.
I had seen youth I knew were rebellious and a black mark on the church. One night a whole pew full of guys who gave my sisters grief threw their hands toward heaven in surrender to the One who forgives sins, repented and were filled with the Spirit. They became different young men and still serve God or did until death.
My seven older siblings accepted the Lord in their youth and our house was filled with music and their singing.
I saw miracles. A friend was healed of leukemia. A child healed of diabetes never had the problem again. I saw people healed of deafness and sicknesses.
I accepted the Lord when I was age 5, was filled with the Spirit about age 9, but I was in my early 20s when I had a life-changing encounter with God. My husband and I moved to Thompson, Utah, population 100. No church. Three bars, and the tiny grocery store was in a bar.
Formerly a youth leader, I was discouraged. We traveled 38 miles to Moab to church on Sunday night because Les worked weekends. Seemed the pastor thought the days of revival were over. I became so hungry for God’s touch, I started praying at home.
One night when I stood up to testify about God’s faithfulness, the spirit of God poured over me like warm oil. Joy bubbled out of me with praise to God in a language I didn’t know.
Afterward I told God if he’d send me a helper, I’d start a Sunday school in that town. Within a week a wonderful Baptist woman my age moved there, and we started a Sunday school in the school house. Every child in town enrolled.
Although I’d written fillers before, Thompson, Utah, is where I became a writer and that’s where I became a journalist–a correspondent–and ended up with a career.
God’s power literally changed the destiny of our family not only for eternity, but in this life as my brother, Virgil Nicholson, became an educator and the force behind Evangel College’s great accreditation. Joe, also an author, headed the music department at Evangel College for years and also served as academic dean of Berean College. Everette pastored many years. The girls were used of God in many ways.
To God be the glory.
CONFESSIONS OF A PENTECOSTAL
When Ada Nicholson Brownell was a child, a faithful Christian neighbor witnessed to her mother. Not just once, but almost every day. 
“The family did everything to get rid of her,” the author recalls, “but she came to ur house…her Bible tucked under her arm, an enthusiastic smile on her face.”
Then Ada’s older sister attended a Pentecostal service at the invitation of a teenage friend. One by one all 10 members of her family were saved and received the Pentecostal experience.
Ada tells of those early childhood days, what it was like to grow up in a Pentecostal home, and then of her continuous search for spiritual fulfillment. Her search has not been without trials, sickness, and disappointments. But God has given her an abiding strength and a vibrant faith to overcome these problems. Her inspiring confession of faith will encourage and bless believers everywhere.
The book was listed in 2011 among 10 recommendations on Pentecostalism by The Library Thing.
Free March 9-12 http://buff.ly/KmLPMi
We continue the study of Psalm 19. If you missed our 2 previous post Click here for the first one. And Here for the second one. Go catch up, no worries, we’ll wait for you.
Today I’m very excited about the verses we are going to look at. Let’ see which ones they are
Psalm 19:7-8
The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes.
I have been blessed to have a notion of God all my life, but following him was a different process. At some point in my younger years I thought I knew how life should be lived, how things worked. If you have lived a little longer than me you probably know what the outcome was. I got lost, running into many dead ends and in lots of trouble.
When I finally became a born again Christian I discovered that there was a way to become whole and it was the revelation of God. That I was able to get myself together. That his Word always points us in the right direction and that every time something doesn’t feel right I have to evaluate what I think are the two possibilities: Is this a lesson? or Did I make a wrong turn?
Most of you have read my GPS stories and how stubborn I am to follow it’s directions when I think I know better. I can’t deny that sometimes that is true in my journey with God. But just like my GPS has to prove to me over and over than I’m wrong, God just sits back and I have to realize that he DOES know better than I do, which has helped me trust more in him, his Word and his direction. Hey grandma was right, “ A hard head makes a soft behind.”
We have more to learn, until then be blessed.
Note: Remember, I encourage you to follow the You Version challenge. If you follow our Bible studies as well and enter a comment in any of our blogs until February 2nd your name will be place in a hat to win a copy of my devotional “Growth Lessons”. I will announce the winner on February 4th 2013. Let’s enjoy this journey of learning the Word of God together.
In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates
I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham
Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames
We are going over Psalm 19. I’m not a preacher, a theologian and aside from going to church, my only official bible classes were two semesters in college. I don’ t claim to have a deep understanding of the scriptures, but this one had a great impact on me when I read it the other day and I wanted to share with you what I saw in it. If you missed the first 4 verses check them out here.
Psalm 19: 4b-6
God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The day breaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
The imagery of a dome gives me a sense of covering. In the crazy world that we live in, I need to feel the safety and the protection of my Lord. It is what gives me the strength every morning to do what I’m called to do, the knowledge that I’m under his covering.
I love how this verse talks about the athlete and the newlywed husband. To me it shows God’s love and eagerness to be with us, to wake us each morning to see his creation in action. When I read this I thought, How sad would it be if the Lord wakes up with all this expectations of the things he has planned for me to do today and then I work on my selfishness instead of his plan. I think that’s the other reason why my morning prayers have become so important, because I can surrender my agenda to grab his agenda.
The other day I was listening to the radio and the announcer said, “ If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans” It left me thinking, yes I would make him laugh because my plans are usually nonsense compared to his.
Food for thought
Until our next time, be blessed
Note: Remember, I encourage you to follow the You Version challenge. If you follow our Bible studies as well and enter a comment in any of our blogs until February 2nd your name will be place in a hat to win a copy of my devotional “Growth Lessons”. I will announce the winner on February 4th 2013. Let’s enjoy this journey of learning the Word of God together.
In Growth Lessons, I was reminded of this beautiful truth: Our walk with the Lord is a process of growing up into the image of Christ. P. Yates
I would recommend this book for anyone who would like some common sense and light added to their life. C. Cunningham
Great for meditations and daily devotions. N. Thames
Naty Matos 